By the age of five or six, most children today have used money – very likely yours – to buy something they want. Yet, not many youngsters understand the value of money, where it really comes from, or how to save and spend appropriately. And that can spell big trouble as they become teenagers and young adults. RBC Bank provides valuable information to help introduce your kids to the concept of monetary value, teach them to make smart financial choices and ultimately, create their path toward financial independence.
You want your children to be great at managing their money in the future, but where do you begin to teach kids about money? From introducing the concept of money to investing, here’s a road map to guide you through the process.
Introduce the Concept of Money
Introduce young children to coins first. Teach them the value of coins and encourage them to save their coins in a piggy bank.
The recognition of money for young children is a concept which is not difficult to learn. Understanding the monetary value and what each individual coin or paper represents is the challenge. Each grade level teaches different aspects of what is money to how to spend money. Starting with the lowest grade, pre-K through Kindergarten, this article will explore the many techniques of teaching children how to remember what money equals.
5 Smart Money Tips for Your Kids
Follow these simple tips to help raise a money smart child.
1-Give an allowance.
Besides monetary gifts for holidays or birthdays, an allowance is often a child’s first experience with the idea of income. Using his or her regular allowance, your child can begin budgeting for regular expenses like movie tickets or candy while earmarking savings for the larger things he or she wants. Whether or not you tie chores to an allowance, it’s a good idea to get your kids into the habit of managing their own money. One rule of thumb is to pay 50 cents per week for each year of the child’s age.
2-Encourage kids to save.
3-Take your child shopping.
It’s never too early to help your kids become smart consumers.
4-Go to the bank.
Bring your child to the bank and open up a savings account. Explain that money in a bank account will be very safe, and it can grow bigger when saved there over time. Show them their bank statements so they can grasp the idea of interest and see how much they’re earning.
5-Talk about ‘talking money’ with others.
Over time, kids develop a natural curiosity about the perception of wealth and materialism and will often compare their situation to that of friends and neighbors. Explain to your child that it’s not polite to ask people how much money they have or boast about your family’s scenario. It’s important for them to know “you are not what you own.”
Posted by admin on Tuesday Aug 31, 2010 Under kids activities
The coins that begin to be identified are the dime, nickel, and quarter. Usually teachers begin with the penny, and then move to the nickel, dime, and then quarter. Besides the difference of shapes from small, larger, smaller, and largest, when the child learns the values of the coins, they already have been taught from the least amount, a one cent penny, to the highest amount, a twenty-five cent quarter.
Many times children first learn to recognize the different coins and then begin to remember the value of each. The best way to have a Kindergartner retain the concept of money is by role playing. Putting the students into groups and assigning them each a role helps with the organization of play. Each student will have the same amount of money and each item is labeled so regardless of what they choose, all groups will end up with the same total. The teacher will tell a story while the students act it out together. For example, one child plays the cashier at a store while the rest go food shopping. When they approach the counter, the students get their items rung up and the cashier gives them the total due.
Bullyinghas become a tidal wave of epic proportions. Although bullying was once considered a rite of passage, parents, educators, and community leaders now see bullying as a devastating form of abuse that can have long-term effects on youthful victims, robbing them of self-esteem, isolating them from their peers, causing them to drop out of school, and even prompting health problems and suicide.
Understanding Bullying Behavior
Kids bully for many reasons. Some bully because they feel insecure. Picking on someone who seems emotionally or physically weaker provides a feeling of being more important, popular, or in control. In other cases,kids bully because they simply don’t know that it’s unacceptable to pick on kids who are different because of size, looks, race, or religion.
In some cases bullying is a part of an ongoing pattern of defiant or aggressive behavior. These kids are likely to need help learning to manage anger and hurt, frustration, or other strong emotions. They may not have the skills they need to cooperate with others. Professional counseling can often help them learn to deal with their feelings, curb their bullying, and improve their social skills.
Some kids who bully at school and in settings with their peers are copying behavior that they see at home. Kids who are exposed to aggressive and unkind interactions in the family often learn to treat others the same way. And kids who are on the receiving end of taunting learn that bullying can translate into control over children they perceive as weak.
Helping Kids Stop Bullying
Let your child know that bullying is unacceptable and that there will be serious consequences at home, school, and in the community if it continues.
Try to understand the reasons behind your child’s behavior. In some cases, kids bully because they have trouble managing strong emotions like anger, frustration, or insecurity. In other cases, kids haven’t learned cooperative ways to work out conflicts and understand differences.
Teach kids to treat others with respect and kindness. Teach your child that it is wrong to ridicule differences (i.e., race, religion, appearance, special needs, gender, economic status) and try to instill a sense of empathy for those who are different. Consider getting involved together in a community group where your child can interact with kids who are different.
Encourage good behavior. Positive reinforcement can be more powerful than negative discipline. Catch your kids being good — and when they handle situations in ways that are constructive or positive, take notice and praise them for it.
Getting Help
To help a child stop bullying, talk with teachers, guidance counselors, and other school officials who can help you identify situations that lead to bullying and provide assistance.
Your doctor also might be able to help. If your child has a history of arguing, defiance, and trouble controlling anger, consider an evaluation with a therapist or behavioral health professional.
Chances are that you are reading this because someone in your life is affected by autism
Take a breath and relax. You are not too late. While it’s true that there is plenty of information out there about autism, it is hard to find someone who actually has real-life experience with a variety of teaching methods
Autism is a neurobiological disorder in which the communication and social interaction abilities of a child are impaired. The exact cause of autism is unknown. Even though there is no medication available to cure this disorder completely, certain techniques
Methods for Teaching Children with Autism
It is a general observation that autistic children do not understand verbal language. Instead, non-verbal or picture language is easy for them to understand. Hence, parents or teachers should demonstrate pictures of all concrete things to autistic children.
To make autistic children understand words, picture cards should be used. These have words written on them along with pictures. As their picture memory is fairly well-developed, they find it easier to understand and memorize the words. Children learn words by hearing the sound that they hear while the teacher speaks.
Visual methods can also help children in understanding numbers. As autistic children understand concrete things better, teachers can make use of number blocks, charts, etc. They should also let children handle or touch the number blocks. Concepts like adding and subtracting should be taught with these methods.
Autistic children are usually found to be good at skills like painting or drawing. These skills should be encouraged as they may help them in future for skill-oriented employment.
Autistic children take all words in their literal meaning. Hence, teachers should not speak in sarcastic or taunting manner. They should avoid asking vague questions to autistic children. Instead they should be very specific and direct. For e.g., do not ask an autistic child as to why has he done a certain thing. He will not be able to answer. Instead, teachers should tell the child not to do a particular thing. This way, he will be able to differentiate between right and wrong.
The general behavior rules should be taught in different locations or else the child feels that the rule is applicable only in that particular area. For e.g., to teach the child that making noise in a public place is not advisable, you need to give him/her the same instructions at every public place or else he/she might think that the instructions are applicable only to specific areas.
As autistic children do not like changes, therefore, it is necessary for parents to prepare them beforehand for a change in routine that is about to occur. Do not give instructions abruptly as it may confuse the child.
Parents should keep in mind, not to force anything on their children. Children can be helped to overcome autism with the joint effort of parents and teachers. There are many autistic adults who lead a normal life. The only thing that parents and teachers should remember is, ‘Patience is the key to success’.
The mission of education, as we all know, is to help prepare students for the future. An important element of that preparation involves the development of career skills. Preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s careers is not an easy task
Here’s How:
1. Talk with your child about his or her interests.
2. Share information about your career with your child.
3. Provide opportunities for your child to visit you at work.
4. Allow your child to take part in ‘job shadowing,’ in order to expose him or her to various occupations.
5. Point out your child’s skills and interests and how they relate to various careers.
6. Don’t pressure your child to make choices — this is just the time to start thinking about career choices.
Tips:
1. It’s never to early to start talking about careers.
2. Provide age appropriate information. Give only as much information as your child can understand.
3. Don’t try to steer your child in the direction you feel is right. Career choice is a personal decision.
When young kids go to any formal education, their knowledge of colors is checked. Colors are an easy way to check learning and it is possible to start teaching the colors at a very early age. Kids as young as 2 years old can learn their colors and build good learning connections in their brain. The earlier they start, the better it is for their learning abilities.
It is very important to understand the process of learning when teaching abstract concept like colors. For kids to recognize a color, they need to have accumulated hundreds of information pieces that help them define that color concept.
The understanding of what this thing is not is greatly helpful in forming a concept. We call these “negative examples”. When you show a kid an apple and say the color is green, it is possible for the kid to remember the shape of the apple and think this is the meaning of green. You must also show an apple that is not green.
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Our eyes are attracted to colorful things. Color gives life to paintings, drawings, photographs and television. If everything were in black and white there wouldn’t be much to characterize what we see. Here are five great suggestions for teaching your children about colors:
1. Teach colors through flash cards. Flash cards contain pictures of items in various colors. For example, if it was a picture of a bear it would be brown.
2. Kids also learn colors through food. Foods come in a variety of vibrant colors. When your child asks for something to eat, tell them the color of what they are eating.
3. Use paints to teach colors. Take a giant piece of poster board and lay it on a drop cloth. Let the children dip their hands in the paint and create handprints on the paper.
4. Take your child outside. As you pass trees, stones, grasses and cars, identify the colors. After you have seen a wide variety of colors, point to something and ask your child what color it is.
5. Play games with your kids that involve colors. Use a pole with a magnet attached to a paper clip on the end of a string. Have fish or some other shapes of objects on the floor with magnets attached to them.
There are more gamesthat you can teach your child. For example, they can find the colors around the house while playing a scavenger game. The importance of color recognition will become important when they learn about stop signs and other meanings for color
Regardless of how much you know about computers, you should really start teaching your children about them. Simply take your child to your local library. Just about every library around has computers. Sit your child on your lap and let him see the computer screen. Ask your librarian for some good children Internet sites to go to.
The computer can be a great place for a child to learn. Children’s software is simple to use. They have great graphics and plenty of information to pass along to you. Plus, computers are the wave of the future. The earlier you get your child started on computers, the more he’ll know about technology well into the 21st Century
Kids, Computers and Learning
When you teach kids with computers you maximize their potential for learning and developing needed skills. As most kids enjoy computers, their desire to learn may increase and difficult subjects can be made more engaging. These tips can help you teach kids with computers while avoiding some of the pitfalls that some parents encounter.
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Instructions
1. Make computer safety the first lesson. Avoid relying solely on parental monitoring software to protect kids.
2. Establish rules and responsibility when you begin to teach kids with computers. While younger kids may not understand the cost of a computer, they will relate to being unable to use it should they misuse it or break it.
3.Balance learning with fun to help kids master material. As children mature, more focused learning sessions can be added. Know that many games that seem to have little learning value can help children in the areas of creativity, focus, hand- eye coordination, and abstract thinking.
4.Avoid underestimating kids’ potential as you introduce more sophisticated programs for elementary and secondary school age kids. Word processing skills, PowerPoint presentations and more are increasingly employed by schools early on. OpenOffice.org offers free programs of similar capacity to commercial brands.
5.Teach kids with computers effectively by letting the computer serve as a tool rather than a replacement for human directed education. Explanations and challenges should be given as needed, and online work should be supplemented with books and other learning activities. Avoid letting computers do all the work when it comes to spelling or math. Optimally, turn spell checkers off and avoid the calculator until basic grammar, vocabulary and math skills are mastered.
6.Branch out into other topic areas such as art, history, science or other untapped websites at least once a week. Incorporate what is learned into an offline activity such as a science project or a visit to an art museum.
7.Consult homeschooling websites for a variety of age appropriate learning material which is available both online and off.
If you have a young child in your family, you may want to teach them early on the importance of caring for animals. Animals need to be respected and handled with caution. Teaching children about animals helps them have a good relationship with animals later on in life.
When you teach a child to be kind to animals, you help pave the way to a brighter future for all living beings. Animals benefit because the next generation has learned to treat them with respect and compassion, reducing instances of animal cruelty. Children benefit because learning about compassion and empathy early in life builds moral character, reduces violence, and builds a sense of empowerment and responsibility. And society as a whole benefits when its members are more caring towards each other and the animals who live among us.
Unfortunately, not all children are taught to be kind to animals. This gap may lead them to tease animals or otherwise disregard their feelings; in the worst cases, it can lead to acts of animal cruelty.
Domestic animals provide a hands-on experience for children.Domestic animals such as cats, dogs, fish and farm animals often allow a child to learn more about animals through first-hand experience. With domestic animals, children often have the ability to get “up-close and personal” with the creature, which is a hands-on approach to teaching. Zoos also fall into this category of hands-on experiences, because the children can study the animals in person
Posted by admin on Tuesday Aug 31, 2010 Under kids activities
Children are fascinated by art and love to experience it first-hand. Understanding and participating in art can help children have a greater appreciation for the world around them and help them to develop talents that they might not have otherwise discovered. Art enables children to cultivate self-expression, imagination and creativity as well as critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
Instructions
Things You’ll Need:
Art supplies such as, paper, glue, glitter, scissors and paint
1-Show the children examples of famous works of art throughout history including sculptures, paintings and architecture. In order for children to understand and appreciate art
2-Encourage the children to talk about the things that they like and even dislike in each work of art and the emotions that it makes them feel.
3-Introduce children to several basic art techniques that use a variety of methods such as drawing basics, stamp painting, splatter painting and water colors. Teach several different art techniques to allow as many students in the classroom as possible to experiment and grow as an artist.
4-Give children access to a wide variety of art materials to inspire them to explore their own creativity and experiment with new art techniques.
5-Display your students artwork throughout the school in the hallway and in classrooms to show that you are proud of the effort of every student. Seeing their artwork displayed encourages students to try new art techniques and explore their own talents and abilities.
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Drawing Emotions
A wonderful way of encouraging children to think about their feelings. How can you draw an emotion? What does “happy” or “angry” look like?
This activity encourages the children to share ownership of their work and points out how different people express themselves, e.g. Some are more flamboyant with their work (using large areas of the paper) and some are more reserved (expressing themselves in smaller designs/areas). This activity can also be used when asking them to sketch words such as wave (hand or squiggle), jumping, straight, spiral etc.. and encourages them to really think about how they can represent each word.
Children can look at an object and draw its outline. Initially they can only observe object draw it without looking at the paper.
Next, they can try drawing the object only using a single line without any breaks in it.
They could also try using different media (charcoal, fine line pens, pencils)
Posted by admin on Tuesday Aug 31, 2010 Under kids activities
Africa is a huge continent with diverse land forms, climates, animals, and human lifestyles. Unfortunately, not many people know this. When we describe Africa, we may generalize it as being a huge safari, a hot dry dessert, or a place where lots of starving people live. kids will recognize that children in Africa have dreams and aspirations just like children in other countries.
South Africa has nine provinces that cover a total of 1,227,200 km squared. There are eleven official languages: Afrikaans, English, Nolebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swali, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu. South Africa has one of the most complex and diversified population mixes in the world, a rich mosaic of distinctive cultures. Not one of South Africa’s languages is spoken by a majority of the people.
South Africa has a modern, well-diversified economy in which agriculture, mining, secondary industry, commerce and a broad structure of service establishments contribute to the wealth of the nation.
In 1994, South Africa had its first free election, ending almost 50 years of apartheid and hundreds of years of oppression. Children in South Africa are particularly vulnerable to the changes occurring because of the recent happenings with apartheid. Most of the schools have double and triple sessions each day and students are packed into huge classes.
——————————————————————————– LIFE IN AFRICAN VILLAGES
Because of the large number of villages in Africa I have chosen just two on which I will focus. I think as background information it is important that the teacher as well as the students understand that the villages described in the following paragraphs are ones that are less influenced by western culture and are not the typical African communities. MBUTI
Often the Mbuti (uhm-boot-ee) people are called pygmies because of their small size but they consider this to be a derogatory name and do not like to be called this. The Mbutis are forest dwellers. They call the forest their “mother and father” because it provides everything for them. They are nomadic which means they make only temporary homes and move when they need to find more food. Mbuti women and children spend their mornings and afternoon gathering mushrooms, nuts, fruits, berries and roots as they walk through the forest. The men provide meat for the group, hunting with short spears or poisoned arrows. This daily tasks are often accompanied by singing. Much time is passed in the village playing games, singing and telling stories. The Mbutis also make bark cloth by using the bark from various trees. They soften it by using water or heat and then pound it until it is soft like cloth and then the women of the village decorate it. Fulani
The Fulani people live in the grasslands of West Africa. Opposed to the Mbuti the Fulanis are taller and have a slightly different skin color. The group of Fulanis I would like to discuss are nomadic. They travel where the climate and land is best for their cattle. Cattle are very important to the Fulani people. A man’s social status is measured by how many cows he owns. Often times young boys will be found singing to their cows out in the fields. A women’s social status is measured by the number of children she bares. Many women marry young. The boys and girls at a young age become apprentices in the camps, corrals and pastures. ——————————————————————————–
problem of humanity
Humanity for Children offers the opportunity for each of us to improve the health, the education, and the future of every child in the developing world.
Humanity for Children was created out of the growing need for medical care, especially for children in the developing world. Many rural areas are not aware of basic healthcare needs such as vaccinations, well child care checkups, and basic medicines when they are sick.
problem of education
Most families can only afford to send their children to the free primary schools, regardless of grades as they cannot afford the cost of upper education. This has created a growing problem in this area, as children are often ill with preventable, treatable, or curable illnesses and do not live up to their potential both developmentally and intellectually. This disrupts not only their growth and well being, but also that of the family and town as a whole. We realize that if children are healthy and educated, then as they mature, they are able to get better jobs, and, thus provide for their family and village. This support, by the now adult children, causes the village and the entire community to prosper. This prosperity will spread throughout the region and country.
provide a hands-on experience for children.Domestic animals such as cats, dogs, fish and farm animals often allow a child to learn more about animals through first-hand experience. With domestic animals, children often have the ability to get “up-close and personal” with the creature, which is a hands-on approach to teaching. Zoos also fall into this category of hands-on experiences, because the children can study the animals in person
